Psychology 3780G 001 FW25

Research in Social Psychology

The University of Western Ontario

London Canada

Department of Psychology

Winter 2026

 

Psychology 3780G Section 001

Research in Social Psychology

 

1.0 Calendar Description

An introduction to the methods and techniques used in the study of human social behavior. Students will conduct studies using a variety of procedures, and will develop an independent research proposal.

Antirequisites: Psychology 2780E

Prerequisites: Both Psychology 2801F/G (or one of Health Sciences 2801A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2855F/G) and Psychology 2811A/B (or one of Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2850A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B, the former Social Work 2207A/B), or both the former Psychology 2800E and the former Psychology 2810, and one of Psychology 2070A/B or Psychology 2720A/B, PLUS registration in third or fourth year Honours Specialization in Psychology or Honours Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Third or fourth year Psychology Majors and Psychology Special Students who earn 70% or higher in both Psychology 2801F/G (or 70% or higher in one of Health Sciences 2801A/B, Psychology 2840F/G, Psychology 2855F/G) and Psychology 2811A/B (or 70% or higher in one of Biology 2244A/B, Economics 2122A/B, Economics 2222A/B, Geography 2210A/B, Health Sciences 3801A/B, MOS 2242A/B, Psychology 2830A/B, Psychology 2850A/B, Sociology 2205A/B, Statistical Sciences 2035, Statistical Sciences 2141A/B, Statistical Sciences 2143A/B, Statistical Sciences 2244A/B, Statistical Sciences 2858A/B, the former Social Work 2207A/B), or 70% or higher in the former Psychology 2820E (or 60% or higher in the former Psychology 2800E and the former Psychology 2810) also may enrol in this course.

2 lecture hours; 2 laboratory hours; Course Weight: 0.5

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.

 

2.0 Course Information

Instructor:                                                        Dr. Graeme Haynes             

Office:                                                              see Brightspace for location   

Office Hours:                                                    TBA  

Email:                                                               ghaynes@uwo.ca                            

 

Teaching assistant:                                          Marilyn Chege                     

Office:

Office Hours:                                                    TBA  

Email:                                                               mchege@uwo.ca                 

When sending me (or the T.A.) an email, please make sure to use proper email etiquette (e.g., start with a greeting), and include the following information: your name, the course you are in (I’m teaching several different courses this semester), and your question.

Sample email:

Hi Prof. Haynes,

This is [insert name here] from your Psychology 3780G class.  After reading the lecture slides on [insert topic here], I was wondering if you could explain [insert concept here] in greater detail?

Sincerely,

[Name]

If you adhere to these guidelines, I promise to reply to all emails within 24 hours.

Delivery Method: In person                           

Time and location of classes and labs: see Student Centre for timetable

3.0 Textbook

Research Methods in Psychology – 2nd Canadian Edition: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/research-methods-in-psychology-2nd-canadian-edition  (this is a free open access textbook) 

4.0 Objectives

The purpose of this course is to provide students with experience in most phases of social psychological research. The objectives are to develop the ability to critically evaluate research literature, to gain practical experience in planning, designing, and conducting experimental research, and to practice presenting and writing research reports and proposals. 

4.1 Student Learning Outcomes

By the end of the term, students should have developed the following skills: 

 Learning Outcome  

Learning Activity  

Assessment 

Depth and Breadth of Knowledge.  

Describe the replication crisis in social psychology, including identifying the factors that precipitated it, questionable research practices, and the steps the field has begun to implement to enhance research practices in social psychology. 

  

Lecture; Readings; Lab activities & discussions

 

 

Midterm & final exam  

Application of Knowledge.  

Articulate the above concepts when critically evaluating published research and when designing research. 

 

 

Lecture; Readings; Lab activities & discussions

 

Midterm & final exam

Research proposal

Lab participation  

Application of Methodologies.  

Operationalize your research ideas by designing a social psychology experiment that exemplifies best practices in the field and coherently interpret the results of statistical analyses.  

 

Lecture; Readings; Lab activities & discussions

 

Research proposal 

Communication Skills.  

Communicate research ideas and results (your own and others’) clearly and concisely, in language accessible to intelligent non-experts (oral and written formats). 

 

Readings; Lab activities & discussions 

 

Research proposal

Lab participation 

Awareness of Limits of Knowledge. 

Identify questionable research practices when they appear in published research and articulate weaknesses/knowledge gaps within a topic area. 

 

Lecture; Readings; Lab activities & discussions

 

Midterm & final exam

Research proposal

 

5.0 Evaluation

The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4.0 and are considered necessary for meeting these learning objectives.

  1. Lab participation (10% of final grade)

This grade will be based on attendance, preparedness, and constructive contributions made to weekly lab.

  1. Exams (25% and 35% of final grade)

There are two exams (a midterm, covering material from the first five weeks of the course, and a final, covering material from after the midterm) according to the schedule in Section 6. Each exam will include short answer questions, short essay questions, problems, and multiple-choice questions.

Note that academic consideration based on self-attestation cannot be used for the midterm exam nor for the final exam (nor for the makeups for either of these exams).

  1. Research proposal (30% of final grade)

Components of the Research Proposal (to be submitted via Assignment tabs in OWL Brightspace)  

  1. Provide an overview of area of research within social psychology that is of interest to you and that you would like to investigate further. This should be no longer than 2 double spaced pages of text. Due on January 23rd.  (5%)  
  1. Develop a specific hypothesis (or hypotheses) that you plan to investigate with an experiment. Your experimental design should include two (2) independent variables (IVs) that you would manipulate in a laboratory setting. Each IV needs to have at least two (2) levels, and a maximum of three (3) levels. This should be no longer than 2 double spaces pages of text. Due on February 13th.(5%)

 

  1. Write a brief introduction and methods section that lays out the logic of your hypothesis (or hypotheses), and discusses the specific experimental methods you plan to use to test your hypothesis (or hypotheses). The length of this document should be limited to 8 double spaced pages of text, and can incorporate elements of the prior written assignments. Due on March 6th.(15%)

 

  1. Using SPSS, create a fictitious data set to “test” your hypothesis (or hypotheses). For example, if you are proposing a 2 x 2 factorial design that therefore has four (4) study conditions, you will create fake data for participants in each of these conditions in such a way that you feel this data would support your hypothesis (or hypotheses). You need to create fake data for a minimum of 15 participants for each proposed study condition. You will also be required to analyse this fake data set and write a brief results section. The written results section should be no longer than 5 double-spaced pages (approx. 1250 words) of text. You will also be asked to submit your fake data set and SPSS syntax you used to analyze your data. Due on April 6th. (5%) 

Make-Up Exams:  Exams must be written on the scheduled dates unless you have a legitimate excuse recognized by the university administration.  Valid reasons include medical or compassionate reasons, internet access issues (in the case that exams are on-line), and religious holidays, and must be substantiated by proper documentation (e.g., a medical certificate, which will be verified by the Office of the Dean), submitted to your home faculty’s academic counseling office.  A student who misses a regularly scheduled exam for other reasons, or who cannot justify a claim, will be assigned a 0 for the quiz or exam.  Students with approved absences for any of the exams must write a makeup exam, usually scheduled for one week after the original exam.

Missed Lab Days: Students are able to miss up to 2 lab sessions without it hurting their Lab Activity Participation grade, provided they are prepared and make constructive contributions during the bulk of the remaining lab sessions. Extensive absences, however, will inevitably hurt a student’s Lab Activity Participation, regardless of how otherwise prepared and constructive their remaining contributions are.

Research Proposal Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 (with Flexible Deadlines): This course employs flexible deadlines for these components of the Research Proposal assignment. For each component, students are expected to submit the assignment by the deadline listed (see above and Section 6.0). Should illness or extenuating circumstances arise, students are permitted to submit their assignment up to 72 hours past the deadline without academic penalty. Should students submit their assessment beyond 72 hours past the deadline, a late penalty of 20% per day will be subtracted from the assessed grade. As flexible deadlines are used in this course for these portions of the Research Proposal assignment, requests for academic consideration will not be granted for these elements. If you have a long-term academic consideration or an accommodation for disability that allows greater flexibility than provided here, please reach out to your instructor at least one week prior to the posted deadline.

Department Grading Policies:

The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:

70%    1000-level to 2099-level courses

72%    2100-2999-level courses

75%    3000-level courses

80%    4000-level courses

The Psychology Department follows Western’s grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf)

A+       90-100            One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level

A          80-89              Superior work that is clearly above average

B          70-79              Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory

C          60-69              Competent work, meeting requirements

D         50-59              Fair work, minimally acceptable

F          below 50        Fail

Note that in the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.

Policy on Grade Rounding: Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered. To maximize your grade, do your best on each and every assessment within the course.

PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulation, you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.  

This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.  

To ensure fairness, please be aware that final grades in this course are based exclusively on students’ performance on the components noted below. None of these components may be rewritten, nor will they be reweighted in calculating final grades.

6.0 Assessment and Examination Schedule

Component

Date

Value

Lab participation

Weekly labs

10%

Research proposal

Jan. 23 (Part 1), Feb. 13 (Part 2), Mar. 6 (Part 3), Apr. 6 (Part 4)

30%

Midterm

Wed. Feb. 11 (in class)

25%

Final exam

Apr. 12-30 TBA

35%

 

  • Class schedule

 

Date

Topic

Read

Wed. Jan. 7

Introduction

Chapter 1

Fri. Jan. 9 (lab)

Scientific Thinking

 

 

Wed. Jan. 14

Developing Research Ideas

Chapter 2 & 4

Fri. Jan. 16 (lab)

 Reading & Critiquing Articles

Dziobek et al., 2005

 

Wed. Jan. 21

Designing & Conducting Experiments

Chapter 6

Fri. Jan. 23 (lab)

Field Experiments

 

 

Wed. Jan. 28

Other Types of Study Designs

Chapter 7

Fri. Jan. 30 (lab)

Qualitative Research

 

 

Wed. Feb. 4

Survey Research

Chapter 9

Fri. Feb. 6 (lab)

Constructing Survey Questionnaires

 

 

Wed. Feb. 11

Midterm

 

Fri. Feb. 13

No lab

 

 

Wed. Feb. 18

No class – Reading Week

 

Fri. Feb. 20

 

 

Wed. Feb. 25

Independent Variables

Chapters 8

Fri. Feb. 27 (lab)

Implicit & Explicit Measures

 

 

Wed. Mar. 4

Dependent Measures

Chapter 8

Fri. Mar. 6 (lab)

A primer on using SPSS

 

 

Wed. Mar. 11

Validity & Realism

Chapter 5

Fri. Mar. 13 (lab)

Further tips on using SPSS, creating data, and saving syntax 

Chapter 11

 

Wed. Mar. 18

Research Ethics

Chapter 3

Fri. Mar. 20 (lab)

Moderation / Mediation

 

 

Wed. Mar. 25

Writing Reports

Chapter 12

Fri. Mar. 27 (lab)

Presenting research at conferences from a graduate student perspective 

Chapter 13

 

 

Wed. Apr. 1

Quality control in Social Psychology Research

Readings TBA

Fri. Apr. 3

No lab – Good Friday

 

 

Wed. Apr. 8

No lecture or lab –

study for final exam

 

Fri. Apr. 10

 

 

Apr. 12-30

FINAL EXAM

 

 

8.0       Academic Integrity

Scholastic offences are taken seriously, and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf.

Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.

Statement on Use of Electronic Devices

Exams may only be written using a single electronic device with a functioning webcam, which must remain on at all times.  You should not have any other electronic devices within sight aside from the one on which you are taking the exam.  While writing the exams, you are not permitted to access any course material on the device you’re using to write the exam, or on any other electronic device or printed source.  The use of programs which translate exam content from English to another language is not permitted. 

Multiple Choice Exams

Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.

9.0       Academic Accommodations and Accessible Education

View Western’s policy on academic accommodations for student with disabilities at this link.

Accessible Education provides supports and services to students with disabilities at Western.  If you think you may qualify for ongoing accommodation that will be recognized in all your courses, visit Accessible Education for more information.  Email: aew@uwo.ca  Phone: 519 661-2147

10.0    Absence & Academic Consideration

Academic Considerations: https://registrar.uwo.ca/academics/academic_considerations/index.html

11.0    Other Information

 

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness@Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.  Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you.

If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf. Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal in writing to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).

 

Copyright Statement

Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.